It still hasn’t sunk in that Micah Parsons no longer plays for the Dallas Cowboys. Trading him was already a new level of ineptitude, but doing it days before the season, and sending him to one of your biggest rivals makes it the worst trade in franchise history.
Both the timing and handling of it suggest it was more about Jerry Jones' ego being bruised after a summer's worth of chess moves than a grand plan about retooling the roster. But what exactly convinced Jones to move on from one of the most gifted players in Cowboys history?
According to Nick Harris of the Fort Worh Star-Telegram, it was a unanimous decision between the front office, coaching staff and player leadership to move on from Parsons. That would seem to suggest the team reached a breaking point with Parsons' behavior behind the scenes.
Cowboys' decision to trade Micah Parsons was reportedly a unanimous one
"A team source with knowledge of the discussions this week confirmed Jones’ statement by saying coaches, including head coach Brian Schottenheimer, and at least one front-facing player were consulted before the decision was made. It was still a unanimous decision to get the deal done," Harris wrote.
What made Thursday’s blockbuster so shocking is that the Cowboys almost never trade away star players under Jerry Jones. There have been plenty of messy contract battles, but most ended with the player staying in Dallas. Which is why so many Cowboys fans didn’t believe the Packers rumors when they first surfaced earlier this week.
The only explanation for Jones trading one of the best pass rushers to ever suit up for the organization smack in the middle of his prime is that the stuff behind the scenes became too much.
RELATED: Jerry Jones rejected Micah Parsons’ apology before trading him to Packers
Harris referenced Parsons' beef with DeMarcus Lawrence, for lack of a better term, that came to a head after Lawrence signed with the Seahawks, as well as Parsons laying on the training table with his eyes closed in Dallas' final preseason game.
Parsons leveraging his back tightness to potentially sit out while still collecting a paycheck clearly frustrated the Cowboys front office as well. Combined with the trade request and his constant maneuvers for leverage against the Joneses, the reasoning becomes much clearer.
That doesn't mean it was the right decision to trade Parsons, but Harris' reporting doesn't make it sound like Jones went rogue. It seems tension with and beyond the front office had been building for a while and Dallas decided that enough was enough.